Want to get all James Bond on your laptop? Simply remove the polarized film from your LCD and stick it to a regular pair of spectacles!
The polarized film inside the LCD is what allows the image to be seen. If you remove the film, then your LCD will show a blank, white screen, but by sticking the polarized film on a pair of spectacles you allow only the spectacle wearer to see the actual image on the screen.
University of Washington professor Babak Parviz and colleagues reported that they’ve managed to develop a contact lens that can display a single pixel to the wearer. This in itself is not useful, but the team is aiming to be able to create a multipixel display in the contact lens, which only the wearer will be able to see.
The contact lens has a small Integrated Circuit for managing the LED’s. It also has a circular antennae for external communication and power harvesting.
In future, the scientists will be able to display real time, multi-coloured information onto the contact lens. Imagine travelling to Egypt, looking at one of the pyramids, and seeing a floating label with the pyramid’s name and height above it!
The scientists are also targeting game developers, who’ll be able to fully immerse the player in a virtual world using these lenses.
Photo from ScientificAmerican
Photo from AboutProjectors
Meet Titanoboa – the robotic snake giant.
Developed by the Mondo Crew, from British Columbia, Canada, this giant robot weighs nearly 2000 pounds and is 35 foot in length. Titanoboa consists of hundreds of parts moving individually to mimic the movement of a real snake.
The designers are already working on an upgrade. They plan on increasing the length to 50 feet, adding a skin, and the ability to move underwater.
The name Titanoboa comes from an extinct snake which used to be 30-50 feet in length, and could swallow a human sized prey with ease.
Visit the project’s page at www.titanoboa.ca
This toy is on top of my Christmas wish list!
Airswimmers is a toy designed by William Mark Corp. It consists of a lightweight balloon shell filled with helium. The balloon is modelled to look like either a clownfish, or a shark. The balloon can then be remotely controlled using an infrared transmitter. The end result is a fishlike creature “swimming” through the air!
The balloons are almost 60 inches in length, and the controller range is claimed to be 40feet.
The video below shows just how awesome this toy is!
Go to Airswimmers.com for more details
Photo from www.geek.com
Meet Teotronico, the world’s first piano playing robot.
Created by Italian Matteo Suzzi (34), this robot sports 19 fingers and can play the piano faster than any human. Teotronico also sports speech recognition and two cameras, allowing him to interact with his audience. It took Suzzi four years to build the robot, at a cost of about £3000.
Teotronica can also “sing” by replaying recorded audio files.
“He’s performed at a number of private parties and is a hit with the guests. We’re hoping he can revolutionize the music industry.
Creepy? Maybe. Impressive? Definitely!
